Tom Brady becomes the only football player ranked inside the top 10 of ESPN’s ‘greatest athlete of 21st century list’

Tom Brady holds the record for the winningest quarterback of all time with seven Super Bowl rings.

Tom Brady becomes the only football player ranked inside the top 10 of ESPN’s ‘greatest athlete of 21st century list’

Tom Brady ranked inside the top 10 of ESPN's greatest athlete of 21st century list' (Via Imago/ESPN)

The list is finally here– ESPN’s Top 100 Professional Athletes of the 21st Century and it has flabbergasted many eyes. Especially the world of the NFL as they could only find one familiar face enlisted among the top ten and that’s the NFL G.O.A.T., Tom Brady. 

ESPN ranked the former New England Patriots superstar quarterback in fifth position among the greatest athletes across the world of the last 25 years– also in parallel with the legend’s prime days on the football field. It wasn’t surprising to see Brady among the top 10 since he counted among the greatest of all era, but there have been debates going around on his ranking. 

Brady holds the record for the winningest quarterback of all time with seven Super Bowl rings and after that, when he was asked which among the seven was his favorite, he answered with “The Next One.” 

FS Video

For the majority of his career, he was considered the best forming the duo of the Patriots former head coach Bill Belichick, who labeled him as the “ultimate winner.” But when he parted ways with the dynasty of New England and joined the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the former team crumbled under Belichick– eventually leading to his departure that offseason. 

Brady wasn’t at the top of his batch during his draft selection and was selected in the sixth round, but as he grew close to the gridiron, he became the Greatest Quarterback of All Time. The only NFL players to be ranked among the top 20 best athletes apart from Brady on ESPN’s list are Patrick Mahomes at 18th and Aaron Donald at 20th. 

RELATED
‘Furious’ Pat McAfee launches a verbal attack on ESPN over their bizarre list of Top 100 athletes of 21st century
Pat McAfee criticises ESPN's Top 100 athletes list

Tom Brady’s unparalleled competitive spirit defined his Hall of Fame career

Throughout his NFL career, the former Patriots signal-caller was known for his competitive spirit both on and off-field, which he even sometimes mentions as a regret. Regardless of whether be it a football game or a ping-pong match, Brady’s competitive spirit was hard to ignore, not to mention unbeatable as shared by his former teammate Patrick Chung. 

Tom Brady
Tom Brady (via IMAGO)
He’s competitive, and this man says a lot of competitive things. He’ll let you have it. In practice, when the defense got on his ass, he threw an interception, and we were on him, just talking, talking, talking. He hated it.
Patrick Chung said during a recent appearance on the Up & Adams podcast

Moreover, the former Patriots safety shared that the 15-time Pro Bowler would have a great optimistic approach to setbacks and used to claim something like he would log “80 touchdowns” after experiencing a setback on the field.

In case you missed: